Sadness is more or less like a head cold - with patience, it passes. Depression is like cancer.
Barbara KingsolverRead
I love developing children as characters. Children rarely have important roles in literary fiction - they are usually defined as cute or precious, or they create a plot by being kidnapped or dying.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote emphasizes the importance of developing children's character in literature beyond superficial traits.
Barbara Kingsolver highlights the often simplistic and superficial roles that children play in literary fiction, pointing out that they are frequently portrayed merely as 'cute' or as plot devices rather than as complex characters. She advocates for a deeper exploration of children's personalities and character development within storytelling, encouraging a richer representation of their lives and experiences.
Themes
ChildrenLiteraryCharacter DevelopmentStorytellingEducation
In practice
Example use cases
A teacher could use this quote to inspire a discussion on character representation in children's literature.
More from Barbara Kingsolver
All quotes →Children can be your heartache. But that doesn't matter, you have to go on and have them . . . it works out.
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I'm of a fearsome mind to throw my arms around every living librarian who crosses my path, on behalf of the souls they never knew they saved.
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I did it to win love, and to prove myself capable. Not to move mountains. In my opinions, mountains don't move. They only look changed when you look down on them from great height.
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Memory is a complicated thing, a relative to truth, but not its twin.
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Empathy is really the opposite of spiritual meanness. It's the capacity to understand that every war is both won and lost. And that someone else's pain is as meaningful as your own.
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